Ellen just released her first EP!
Live at Walker Art Center (1975) consists of two songs from a live concert Ellen performed solo with guitar at the world-famous art museum in Minneapolis.
“The Trees They Do Grow High,” a traditional ballad, is a sad romantic tale about true love and loss. “The Walker Outside” is a topical song written by the legendary Malvina Reynolds, a good friend of Ellen’s.
Have a listen at the Bandcamp link below:
“Live at Walker Art Center” is available on streaming platforms including YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, and iHeart Radio by following this link to Ellen’s DistroKid page. To purchase a download of the EP, visit Ellen’s BandCamp page at ellenstekert.bandcamp.com. For updates about further new releases, please follow Ellen’s Spotify or Apple Music profiles, or check back on the Music & Performing page here at her website. Also, follow @ellenstekert on Instagram for updates and interesting stories about Ellen’s life.
Lyrics
“The Walker Outside”
I am under the sky
I’m the one passing by
You don’t hear me or see me
I’m a flicker of night
But your dreams, they’re uneasy
‘Cause I’m walking outside
My home’s on my back
My bed’s in my pack
Oh, you cozy quilt sleepers
Your mattress is wide
But your dreams, they’re uneasy
‘Cause I’m walking outside
I am thin and athirst
To the depths of my soul
To the depths of my soul
But my brain, it can reach you
And my hands, they can touch you
And my fingers are cold
I am under the sky
I’m the one passing by
You don’t hear me or see me
I’m a flicker of night
But your dreams, they’re uneasy
‘Cause I’m walking outside
“The Trees They Do Grow High”
Now the trees they do grow high, and the leaves they do grow green
And many a day and night have past that you and I have seen
The winter nights are coming on, and I must lie alone
He’s my bonny boy. He’s young, but he’s growin’
“Oh father, dearest father, I fear you’ve done me harm
For you’ve married me to a bonny boy, and he being so very young
Why he being only sixteen years, and I being twenty-one
He’s my bonny boy. He’s young, but he’s growin’”
“Oh daughter, dearest daughter, don’t mind what people say
For he will be a man to you when you are old and grey
And he will be a man to you when I am dead and gone
He’s your bonny boy. He’s young, but he’s growin'”
“Now we’ll send him to the college for one year or two
And then perhaps with time my love, a man he will grow
And all around his college cap, we will tie a ribbon blue
For to let the ladies know that he’s married”
As I walked out the other night beside the college wall
‘Twas there I spied my own true love playing at the ball
And there I spied my own true love, the fairest of them all
He’s my bonny boy. He’s young, but a-growin’
At the age of sixteen he was a married man
And at the age of seventeen, why the father of a son
And at the age of eighteen years, on his grave, the grass grew green
Cruel death had put an end to his growin’
Now I’ll sew my love a shroud of the Holland, oh so fine
And every stitch that I’ll take in it, why the tears come trickling down
And I will sit and mourn his fate until the day I die
As I’ll watch over his child while it’s growin’
Oh, now my love is dead, and in his grave does lie
The green grass that’s over him, why it groweth up so high
Oh, once I had an own true love, but now I have got none
He’s my bonny boy. He’s young, but a-growin’
So come all you pretty fair maids. A warning, take thy head
And never build your nest in the top of any tree
For the green leaves will wither down and the roots will decay
And the blushes of your young love will soon fade away
Credits
Released February 24, 2025
Perfomer: Ellen Stekert
Producer: Ross Wylde
Production Assistant: Bates Detwiler
Editorial & Publicity Manager: Christopher Bahn
